Kevin Johnson calls Haye an “Over-hyped cruiserweight”

By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson (22-0-1, 9 KO’s) had a few choice words to say about the new World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye in an open letter from Johnson to Haye, saying “I have to say that your fight with Nikolay [Valuev] was the worst fight that I ever witnessed in my life. You proved again that you are nothing more than an over-hyped cruiserweight with a big mouth.”

I have to agree with Johnson about the quality of Haye’s fight with Valuev. I thought it was by far the worse fight I’d ever seen in heavyweight action since I first started following the sport many years ago. Haye averaged a little over 10 punches thrown per round and ran virtually all the fight from the slow moving, weak-punching 7-foot Valuev.

The way that Haye fought Valuev, you would think that Valuev was a knockout artist rather than a weak puncher who has seen better days. Still, fans of Haye have come out saying what a smart fight strategy he used against Valuev and other similar niceties. I’d like to hear what they’d say if Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko fought in the same way against Valuev. I can just imagine the fallout the Klitschko brothers would be facing by the boxing press if they fought the way that Haye did.

It was awful to watch and incredibly boring. But what made it even worse was the fact that Haye had been bragging before the fight how he was going to come out fast and knock Valuev out. I’d seen a handful of Haye’s fights in the past against smaller cruiserweights and noted that he was mostly pot shot artist. But I figured that he’d at least let his hands go a little because he needed to impress potential new fans.

However, Haye did the opposite, fighting a completely safety first fight for the full 12 rounds. Haye ended up winning by a 12 round majority stinker. It was so bad that I had a strong impulse to turn of the set halfway through the boring bout. Basically, Valuev stalked Haye all night long while Haye ran around the ring in big circles, occasionally throwing a pot shot.

“Both you [Haye] and Valuev give boxing a bad name,” Johnson said. I can’t say I disagree with Johnson. Haye was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for boxing, yet he fought scared against Valuev for the entire fight. Haye later said that he hurt his right hand early in the 2nd round after hitting Valuev in the head with a punch. However, I’ve seen fighters hurt their hands early in a fight and still look much better than Haye did.

“I thought I was watching a damn marathon,” Johnson says. Me too. I thought I was watching a track meet with Haye running from Valuev as if his life depended on it. What made it seem so strange is that Haye was the younger fighter by far, the quicker fighter and the much bigger puncher. Can you imagine Mike Tyson running from one of his opponents? Haye is supposed to have power and speed along the lines of Tyson, why is he running from a slow moving, weak puncher like Valuev.

I hope Haye won’t use this tactic against John Ruiz, his mandatory challenger who Haye has to fight early next year in 2010. But my guess is Haye will do the exact same thing. I don’t see him hurting Ruiz, because John has a heck of a chin and can take a good shot without going down. On the other hand, I have strong doubts about whether Haye can take a hard shot from Ruiz without kissing the canvas. Ruiz punches really well with his right hand and if he nails Haye with one of his big uppercuts, that will be the end of Haye.

“I just love the way you [Haye] jumped the line and got an opportunity to fight Valuev before I did, especially since I was ranked ahead of you for months,” Johnson said. I think that’ strange too. Why did Haye get a shot at Valuev’s title when Johnson was ranked ahead of him for such a long time?

Johnson will be fighting World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on December 12th. After that, Johnson wants to fight Haye. “I’m going to look you [Haye] up and we are going to get it on for real,” Johnson says. “Just don’t run from me like you did last year when you pulled out of our agreed upon fight.”

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